The Xander, The Watch and a New Sunnydale
by tohonomike
Summary: Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flic starring Robert Hays. Please read and review. Last Part, 9, is now up
1. Chapter 1

The Xander, The Watch and a New Sunnydale Author: Tohonomike Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flic starring Robert Hays. 

**January 21st, 1998**

His Uncle Kirby's lawyer had called and asked the boy to head immediately over to his uncle's house, as the man was not really expected to live through the next night. It came as a surprise to the young man, as the man was only in his thirties, so he'd headed over.

With the Judge about to start ending the world, Xander felt that seeing the only rich member in the family to talk to him, and then only when the folks weren't around, meant something. When he reached the place, he saw the cars of the other members of his mom's family, as well as his folks walking up to the door. Before they could say something nasty to him, the butler let them in, and escorted them to where Kirby and some official looking folks waited with the family members seated close so they'd here him. He WAS surprised to see Jenny Calendar and an old guy sitting two rows in front of him, not looking up as he entered with his parents.

Kirby cleared his throat, "Well, I'm not going to get into the particulars, but I'm not expected to last much longer. So I decided to get everything out of the way before any of you can legally bitch. Since I'm alive, when you sign acceptance papers for what I'm giving you…that's it. No more. Okay, there are eight sections of the family represented here. I have eleven million dollars after all my affairs are in order and charities given their share. Each family gets a million, but on three conditions: You sign over everything you have in Sunnydale you can't carry with you out of town before sundown tonight, to my designated heir that gets the rest; the second clause, is that you leave California and never return without written consent or you owe my designated heir one million dollars. Three you sign all papers regarding this without complaint, before you leave this house. Next, to my Kalderash in-laws, my late wife would have wanted me to provide for you as well. You are granted one million dollars, but without the three conditions. I do ask that of you stay and advise my heir until the age at which he would have achieved his majority. To my staff of five, I leave one million to be divided evenly. I ask you to stay through the end of the month at least, to make things easier on my heir.

To my heir, after paying off the debts of the eight families and the staff, you get their stuff, this property and its contents, about twenty thousand clear and emancipation from your parents. That heir is Alexander Lavelle Harris, who as condition on his folks must be emancipated, and must then take the last name of 'Winter' so at least the name continues.

To say Jenny was a bit shocked would be an understatement, but after the others, including a pair of Harrises who left without saying anything to their son, departed, Kirby, Ejos, Jenny and Xander were staring at each other for a long minute before the silence broke.

Enjos sat at the small table, "Kirby, I'm sad to hear you're leaving us. This is Alexander, eh?"

"Yeah, this is Xander," the man said, tossing his blanket and hospital-looking robes off a body with a Hawaiian shirt and clashing swim trunks, he reached into a bag, put on a Panama hat, and slipped his feet into a pair of sandals. "He's the only one in the family that is decent; the rest are a total waste."

Jenny looked at Mr. Winter, "You don't look like a man planning to die…"

"Me? Hell no. The wife and I got tired of all these leaches, so we came up with the death story. Her and I are moving up to a nice big ranch and vineyard we have up near Yosemite."

"You're gonna live, Unc?"

"Yes I am, Xander, and I have one more thing, something that has special value for the men of our family these last hundred and fifty years. This gold pocket watch. I had help from a certain Kalderash gentleman and his family; once I give the command word and pass it to you, it will only work for you. Also, no vampires can touch it as it is blessed, and I had it touched up with paint containing gold from some damaged crosses. Enjos?"

"Your Uncle used the power of this watch to help save several of our families and get across the Iron Curtain before they could be murdered by Communists. So we owe a blood debt of assistance, given freely, until the last of those saved passes to the next life. So in addition to her other obligations, my niece will serve as your advisor until you turn eighteen, which I believe is in November of this year. After this, we hope you will continue to accept our friendship. Jana?"

"We'll talk more later, Xander. I'll explain things."

Kirby smiled, "Now, the magic of the watch. And I've been watching you, so I know what you've been up to since Miss Summers came to town. I'm sorry about Jesse. Anyway, Xander, when you pull out the gear at the top of the watch to set it, and either think or say the command word, time will completely stop."

"You're kidding…"

"For only a maximum of ten days, that's 14,400 minutes. After that, it's just a watch until the next male heir, I'm old fashioned so that's how the magic works, is at least seventeen and you pass it on."

"What happens if I die before that?"

"Then it automatically passes, only needing to be handled by the heir to activate. If there is no heir, the watch itself ceases to exist."

"Why me?"

"You're the only male that's worth a damn in our family, I used up my time, want to retire. You're it."

"So now what?"

"I left a list of stupid don'ts, a list of maybe that'd works, that sort of thing, in the envelope on the table there. Any questions or ideas off the top of your head?"

"What's the area of this thing?"

"It stops all time in this universe as far as I can tell. Also, anyone and anything you touch that you want animate and active like a person or a car, you can, but have to be in contact with them when you activate the watch."

Xander looked at Jenny, "Want to go dust all the vamps we can find, blow the Judge into pieces to save the world, and figure out how to make us rich without hurting anybody?"

"Us?"

"You're smarter at this than I am, so you get ten percent of whatever you make us."

"Okay. But half goes to my family to show I'm honoring our commitment to you."

"Fine."

Two hours later, the sun had set, and Xander and Jenny headed into the school to pick up her laptop computer before planning to join the others in the library. As they approached the doors of that building, they noticed Angel skulking around watching Willow. Xander was about to say something as Angel smiled, his game face showing as he moved silently toward the girl. Xander took the watch out and immediately thought the command word, 'Twinkies,' and time stopped except for himself and Miss Calendar.

She realized what he'd done, and they'd walked over to the red head just being grabbed by the vampire.

"What are we going to do?" the boy asked, "It looks like Dead Boy is evil again."

"It means he's Angelus, the soul must have experienced one true moment of happiness, so the curse is gone."

"What would have done—oh."

"I'm sorry Xander."

"It's okay. I knew she'd never return my feelings…but for a vampire…ya know?"

"Yeah."

"I guess we need to either dust him or chain him up until we figure if there's anything else we can do."

"You're willing to try to find a way to restore his soul?"

"The soul IS the person; the demon is the bad guy right?"

"Yes it is…"

"So we're not restoring Angelus' soul. Though in this case if your family can't recurse him, I'll dust him to protect the others. Even though it will end my friendship with Buffy."

Ten minutes later they had Angelus bound in heavy chains and left in the weapons cage. Jenny turned to the young man next to her, still surprised he'd shown such restraint.

"Are you going to restart time now?"

"No, I have a better idea. "Emptying his pockets gave me an idea. What if we basically robbed all the vamps and stuff before dusting them? Do you have some kind of a detection spell we could use to find nests of vamps or gold or money?"

"Maybe, but Rupert would be better to ask."

"Okay, 'cause I'm thinking right now we take care of Spike, Drusilla, and the Judge first, then worry about Angelus here."

"Okay, let's go."

This idea wouldn't leave, so I wrote this part of it. I'll write the second part some time in the next week.


	2. Chapter 2

The Xander, The Watch and a New Sunnydale 2 Author: Tohonomike Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flic starring Robert Hays. 

The night was young, and time was stopped except for two humans. Even most of the Powers That be and Infernals That Are were unaware of the frozen time. In truth, time was entirely stopped, but when the differences came to within a billionth of a light second, the effects were essentially the same.

Xander had a scary intelligence, Jana of the Kalderash considered, one of amazing focus when it came to what he had planned. Apparently for the last ten weeks he'd been using his computer and military skills to research Sunnydale and long-term contacts with the town.

He'd led her to a 'secret compartment' behind Giles' library counter, cut from what was supposed to be empty space under the bottom shelf. In it, he had hard copies and disks containing his findings, which translated onto a map as a lot of abandoned properties, and a few city properties that had suspicious deaths mounting nearest them compared to elsewhere. In the next 'drawer' over, he'd pulled out infrared and night goggles, a few boxes that contained about five hundred sharpened wood pencils, a handyman's tool bag.

"What's all of this, Alexander?"

"The goggles should work to help detect vamps and other demons, the pencils will be jammed into each one so that when they animate again when I restart the watch it will be as dust. Also, if they animate while we remove their belongings, they should also dust. Think five hundred is enough?"

"Okay, you're planning to use your gift all in one night? And what about the maps?"

"The maps are going to narrow down our search, and our income prospects. Also, we'll only use what we need. I also noted that a lot of business over the years has gone to a couple of firms in LA, mainly legal and other services that aren't clearly documented by the City. So we'll be visiting the city VIPs tonight also."

"Ambitious, did you know about the watch?"

"No, just that while I had the soldier memories full-on, I used them as much as possible. So I've been working out, practicing firearms, taking some karate and judo lessons, and hacking like a fiend. Most of the rest, except for some access codes that should work on the base, are pretty much gone."

"So what first?"

"The base."

"Really, why?"

"Lots of explosives and such. If we need to take out the Judge for keeps, or another one in the future…we'll be ready. At the very least the blasts should use up a lot of demon healing."

"Okay. You seem to have a plan, I'll just back you up until I notice something, alright?"

"Okay, and thanks for the trust."

The two time-avoiders were quite tired; after raiding the base and pursuing Xander's plan for several hours, the fact they hadn't had sleep in a subjective day took its toll. But the results were worth it.

Based on Buffy's directions, they'd found Spike's lair, and after looting the place and loading it into a moving truck, they'd followed up leads that crossed over with Xander's research. Four apartments, Willy's bar, six warehouses and two houses later, and they'd staked almost a hundred thirty vampires and hacked up fifteen demons. The money and such were nice, the weapons recovered potentially helpful, but it was still physical work.

They took the time to thoroughly search the offices, records and homes of the leading city officials, and what they found was scary; apparently the Mayor was a hundred years old, a dark mage of sorts and actually controlled much of the shadowy goings-on in the City of Sunnydale. Jana had gone along with his setting charges in the man's office, including around Wilkins himself, and then the man's home. The loot had been very lucrative, and a very quick on and off, Jenny had accesses the man's personal accounts and begun a series of worms designed to eliminate themselves and every mention of him on the Internet as further cover of their trail.

"What of the lawyers in Los Angeles, Alex?" Jana replied, using a name that from fatigue she used instead of his full name. He'd gotten used to it.

"Think you can last another few hours?"

"I'm really tired."

"How about we off-load into the house what we have this trip, then you sleep while I drive us to LA?"

"Can you avoid falling asleep at the wheel?"

"Yeah, I have a couple hours left in me, and besides, I think I'll do a fast raid of the Mayor's remaining vamp nests, set some charges and get us to LA. At that point, I'll wake you and catch an hour or two of shut eye while you do an inventory and stuff. Fair?"

"Yeah, but what are we going to do in LA?"

"We'll check out these lawyers, and if they really are demonic evil like Wilkins, a big 'ol fire is going to sweep the building and hopefully put them out of business."

Jana of the Kalderash, known also as Jenny Calendar, woke from her slumber feeling refreshed. She sat up as Xander was getting into the truck and smiled at her.

"What?"

"If only I was only six or ten years older…"

She blushed with a delighted smile, "Thank you, Xander, but I'm sure you'll find some one; if Rupert can, so will you." They shared a conspiratorial smirk.

"Rested?"

"Yeah, how long did I sleep?"

"I let you sleep a whole six hours," he responded, yawning, "But those eight big nests in Sunnydale are taken care of. Now, I have all the stuff in the back, so you should be able to make sense out of it; don't let me sleep more than three hours. I have strong coffee and food, too. Hopefully I picked what you like."

He yawned again. "So, three hours or so, okay?"

"Okay.

The lawyers were a real piece of work; demons, vampires, and odd things apparently worked for, were clients of or were somehow otherwise associated with Evil, Inc. Xander went back and of the six remaining large explosive-filled boxes, brought out four of them and found the big supports, gas intakes and such in the lower infrastructure of the building. Jenny helped carry detonators while checking out what of use might be lying around. They'd already blown eight safes in two real-seconds, and emptied them. Then, stopping to sleep short naps three more times, using up two full days and two hours, they were finished with the place. And a day planner of the man in charge gave them some interesting addresses in the area.

Another five hour, and five very nasty criminal syndicates, an Archduke of Hell, a necromancer and a couple of demonic mages, were added to the list of targets and loots, forcing Xander to briefly start and stop time again to animate a full-sized semi and trailer. They felt the beginnings of explosions in those seconds.

The two made it back to Sunnydale, and after a couple more hours, had catalogued, and safely secreted their loot in the sub-basements of Xander's new home. Additionally, they sent the two trucks hurling into the deep waves beyond Kingman's Bluff, rigged with explosives that shredded the rest of possible evidence, including clothes they'd worn.

"So what are we going to do about Angelus?" Jana as they looked at the door that sealed in the chained vampire now stored in a casket under a five-hundred pound weight, in a bank-quality vault in one of Xander's basements.

"See about researching the spell to re-soul; like I said, if that doesn't work, then dusting." He sighed, and thought about the last three solid days they'd used, "But we'll give it an honest try."

"Xander? Why are you going to do it? After everything else that happens, the others might eventually catch on and be scared or angry anyway."

"I don't plan on letting them in on the secret, Jana," he replied, "And I pretty much… fixed … the ability for Angelus or Angel to have another happy moment again."

"You're kidding!" she half-laughed, half-gasped in horrified shock, "Why?"

"Can't take a vampire to court for statutory rape, or stalking. But mainly frustration. His 'mom' killed my 'brother' and all the bastard does is stare at Buffy and not help. Also, when he was offering to Spike as an appetizer at Parent-Teacher Night, why didn't he just grab the stake in his pocket and try to dust 'Billy' or instead of talking to Drusilla a few months back, stake her and end the misery?"

"You're full of anger."

"And I'm tired. But I'm not really filled with anger anymore. I vented and 'fixed' the problem."

"What else did you do?" Jana asked, "I can see it on your face."

"I looted his apartment and transferred the title of his car to me, and dressed him in a neon-green mini-dress. Over his boxers: no way did I want to see anything of that thing's."

"No wonder my uncle loves your family…vengeance is a living thing to you, too."

"Like I said, I'm done…though wait until you see the hot-pink Mohawk."

"You're evil."

"No…but if you so approve of a minimum ten-year adult-teenager age gap, I'm available."

"No, I don't, so we'll just stop before we start to argue."

"Shall we head back to the library? Make sure the others get home safely?"

"I do miss Rupert..."

"I don't need to hear about THAT."


	3. Chapter 3

The Xander The Watch and a New Sunnydale 3 Author: Tohonomike Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays. 

The night had lasted far too long, and Xander smiled broadly as he entered the library with Jenny Calendar. The duo each carried the best of the best in laptops within their carry-bags, and Xander contemplated getting back to 'normal time.'

Jenny smiled, catching his general enthusiasm, as she noted a devious twinkle in his eye.

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, we have Willow here, starting to look confused because ten seconds have passed since Angelus grabbed her in the hall, but she's sitting here starting to make a ruckus. Buffy's looking confused and maybe a little annoyed. And Giles as usual is looking disconcerted. Oz and Cordelia look either Oz-like or bored, it's a close call."

Xander moved Willow between Buffy and Oz, then pulled out Giles' chair.

"Xander, what are you thinking?"

"Willow's lungs outta really spook those two, and both are out of Buffy reflex-range, and if you want to sit on Giles' lap and place a big kiss on him that out to really confuse him."

"And you?"

"Most of my pranking of Sunnydale has already taken place, just waiting for tomorrow's gossip mill to make it all even better. I think I'll just hold Cordelia's hand openly and when Willow shrieks, say something as though in response."

"Hmm, alright, but let's not use up all of your minutes left. You really should ration yourself…after all if you go to college, extra time on exams could help."

"That's an excellent point. And I was just thinking of terms of doing the Robin Hood thing…"

"Dressing in tights and doing it in an English forest with manly men around you?"

Xander started laughing, to the point of nearly choking as he leaned heavily on the table, a moment later, breathing in oxygen.

"That was well-timed, Jana. Thank you."

"You're welcome, but why?"

"It keeps me from getting too far ahead of myself. So, ready?"

"Sure…"

She sat on the librarian's lap, and watched as Xander, in a suit no less, as well as the trench coat readied himself. A thought occurred to her…

"Xander? You do realize we're dressed almost alike and definitely out of our norm?"

"Yeah, but I figured we could explain that as being my uncle's fault…after all, we did just come from his place, subjectively speaking."

"True. Okay, whenever you're ready…"

He smiled, and in his pocket 'restarted' time again. As he'd guessed, Willow's loud shriek that effectively came from two sides of the library really confused things, and a startled Buffy shifted quickly in different directions before realizing nothing was there, though Xander realized that having carried the vampire by her twice would have set off her Slayer senses in a freaky way.

Cordelia pulled back from the sound of the loud scream, but reflexively tightened her grip on his hand on the table. Rupert was in heaven for an instant, but the sound of Willow quickly diverted him. Jenny smiled and wondered what the next few minutes would hold.

"Good Lord, Willow! What's wrong!" the startled Englishman nearly shouted.

Xander smiled, "Must have been Cordelia's announcement that her and I are openly dating."

"What!" the three teenaged girls in the room exclaimed in confusion. Then Willow waved her hands.

"No! I was just in the hall and Angel tried to kill me!"

"What?" the others asked, still not sure why things were so out of place from the moment before, Giles following up, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Xander and Miss Calendar ran to save me…and hey, where'd you two get the nice clothes?"

Cordelia and Buffy looked at the teacher and student, the coloration of attire in darker olive tones, and realized that something was off.

"Armani?" Cordelia asked, "Xander Harris, how can you afford Armani?"

"Well, as of earlier today, I'm actually Alexander Kirby Winter, and have come into some money and property. Jana is my PA, or DA, I suppose, though I'm legally emancipated. The suit is a result of all that."

Before the others could remark, they felt the tremors of the various buildings and gas mains going up throughout Sunnydale. Jana and Alexander looked to each other, then back at the group.

"What was that?" Willow asked, "It didn't feel like an earthquake."

"No, it didn't," Xander agreed, "So anyway, Jana and I have a few things to catch up on with you guys first. I—"

"Who's Jana?" Willow asked, looking around, "Oh, and what's the PA-DA thing you were mentioning a minute ago?"

"Personal Assistant, Designated Adult," Xander smiled, "And a funny story about it—"

"Um, not to ruin the story, Xander," Buffy said, "But the Judge is assembled and that's kinda more important."

"Not really, Buff," Xander remarked, "And the Judge shouldn't be a problem; a distant in-law of my uncle's took care of it, and vice versa. C-4 I believe. As to Angelus, Willow, that was earlier, and the vampire without a soul is being researched by that same contact to see if it can be replaced. If not, dust."

"What!" Buffy asked in amazement, "What do you mean someone has Angel?"

"Just what I said, Buffy, the soul is gone, so Angel is gone. What is left is a vampire named Angelus. Now like I said, we'll see about the soul thing, but it doesn't look very promising."

"W-what do you mean, Xander?" the Watcher asked, "and how do you know all of this?"

"If you remember from reading the Watcher's references on Angelus, the ones Buffy never bothered with I'm guessing, you'll find that Darla, Spike and Dru went crazy on the gypsies that cursed their buddy Angelus after he'd raped and driven crazy and murdered a potential slayer. So they killed off the people with the mojo to curse, and the Nazis wiped out lots of the rest during Word War II. So the chances for bringing the creepy-stalker back are slim."

"And your knowing the people who have him?"

"I have my contacts, and that's one that isn't going to be forthcoming soon."

Buffy looked unhappy, but the hurtful encounter with Angelus in her apartment still left her unbalanced, rather than in angry-Slayer mode, "Why won't you tell us, Xander?"

"Because the vampire is sealed up where you can't see it anyway, Buff. And if the spell isn't found soon, the vamp is dust. The soul you were obsessed with is gone, and you know how that happened. So let's just let the experts check and see."

"That's a bit cold, isn't it Alexander?" Giles asked, "How do we know for sure that the soul is gone?"

"Other than his trying to murder Willow earlier? Other than a police report about a dead hooker eaten in the alley outside his apartment last night? Other than the gypsies finally explaining this afternoon that Angel experienced a moment of happiness last night, and the soul is gone? We don't know. As to 'cold' Giles, should Buffy really see only a nasty vampire where Angel used to be? When I had to stake Jesse last year, I'd remembered how hard it was even after you'd told us it was just an animal wearing his face. Buffy doesn't need to puke her guts out seeing it."

Willow grew quiet at that, as did Giles. Even Buffy subsided, looking morose. It then occurred to Giles that something was off.

"Xander, why would the gypsies talk to you?"

"Uncle Kirby's in-laws included the Kalderash. Until they gave me Jana as a gift until my eighteenth birthday, I hadn't realized it, either."

"Xander…" Jenny Calendar sighed with exasperated, "They SO did not give me to you; I'm just your advisor and helper."

Willow finally caught on, "Miss Calendar is Jana? She's a gypsy?"

"Yes I am Willow," she admitted, "But I didn't know anything about Angelus' moment of happiness clause until this afternoon at Xander's uncle's home."

Buffy considered this, "But you knew about the curse? Were you spying on us?"

"No, but I was sent to watch Angel and make sure he was still cursed. It wouldn't do anyone any good to have Angelus back."

"So you were spying on us…"

'For crying out loud, Buffy, she was here to watch the vampire, not us."

"But she knew our secrets, she should have told us hers."

"Why? She only learned about you being the Slayer because things kept getting out of hand and that whole Moloch deal. And you don't wear a balaclava and dark clothes when slaying, so it's not like Giles or the Council are really serious about secrecy. So don't look for a scapegoat. Just because Angel paid the price for breaking the laws of man and God…maybe getting a reprieve if research turns up something, is no reason to take it out on someone else."

Willow tried to speak up for her friend, "Hey, Buffy's been through a lot—"

"And so she shouldn't try to blame others. That's all I'm saying. And Willow, this is one argument that you will lose. So drop it."

"Anyway," he continued, squeezing Cordelia's still-prominently-held hand, "just go home and try to forget about the whole Judge and Angelus thing for a couple of days. We'll talk on Monday. Jana, if you could come over to my place around nine tomorrow, we'll get started on the inventory and all the new accounts, see if we can make sense of all of it. I'll have the staff make breakfast for you."

Cordelia suddenly realized something, "Wait? The Winter Mansion? That's across the way from MY house."

"Yeah, if you're brave enough, it'll really piss your folks off to know that my place out-appraises theirs by a thousand bucks as of yesterday." The young man smirked, "And Cordelia, I'm giving you until Monday to think about us…we've been only hanging out so far, and only MY friends know. So you still have a chance to back out of this, 'cause I'm not going to hang out with the Cordettes or the Jocks. I now have to learn about real estate, estate foreclosures, tax lien sales and other property-transfer stuff now, but I'm not going to become one of the snots I've hated my whole life. Here, lets get you home. Oz? Can you see that Buffy and Willow make it home? There shouldn't be any real vampire problems tonight, but you never know."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"Welcome."

"Cool."

Nod.

Nod.


	4. Chapter 4

_The Xander The Watch and a New Sunnydale 4_ _Author: Tohonomike __Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays._

The next morning, as Xander had suspected, not only saw Jana Kalderash show up, but the rest of the Scooby Gang as well. He knew from listening to emergency channels, watching the news and the general mayhem that school would be canceled (it was a Friday) and his friends couldn't suppress their curiosity. Looking up from his laptop computer he could see the lot of them pulling into the driveway, and behind them, Cordelia Chase almost nonchalant as she made her way over as well. He headed into the dining room, noting that the staff had set out a buffet off to the side from which his guests could serve themselves.

He had carefully secured the basement levels so that only his new codes would let one in, and felt relatively sure about the rest. As he heard the front door ring, he made sure his lists and such were safely locked in a drawer so that Scooby types wouldn't snoop into last night's affairs inadvertently.

The butler announced he had visitors and Ms. Calendar, to which Xander consented to the others joining them. Rupert, Jenny and Cordelia were the first in; Buffy, Willow and Oz seemed to be taking in the surroundings in something akin t amazement. Cordelia enthusiastically beamed as she noted the slightly less formal sports jacket and jacket Xander's butler had had laid for him that morning.

"Wow, real clothes twice in a row! You look good, Xander," she told him, eliciting a smile from him.

"Hey, Cor, good to see you too. Hey guys, figured you'd be by, grab a plate and eat up. I had them make some of everything. Giles, there are different teas over on the left."

The smell of food quickly derailed any immediate conversation, as Giles was delighted to be in a civilized dining room, and the others were primarily teenagers. Jana, as he now tended to call Jenny Calendar stepped over to where Cordelia stood next to Xander.

"I knew those clothes would be an improvement, Xander," Jana nodded at the selections she'd help make on the way back to Sunnydale, then gestured at her own dark corduroy jacket over her teacher clothes, "I think I guessed close enough. We hadn't discussed dress code."

"You look fine, Jana, I kinda guessed they'd cancel school with all of the noise last night?"

"Oh yeah, and apparently Principle Snyder was found handcuffed in his boxers to a flagpole in front of the police station last night covered in fake clown tattoos. The 'flog the frog' sign around his neck didn't help matters much."

"Really?" Xander smiled at his new advisor, "Good for 'somebody.' I've been watching the news. I've been reading these real estate repo books and am wondering if we could squeeze enough cash together and pick up the bombed out properties for the back taxes, land only."

"Wow," Cordelia responded, eyebrows high in sudden financial admiration, "One day and already you're ready to swoop in and make the profit? Wow."

The boy laughed, the normal Xander showing even after the ramifications of his night's activities might have done had already set it. He'd hoped to make a strong impression on Cordelia, and since Jana would be double-checking his ideas and plans before they went to his official agents, he probably would do just fine. Outside Sunnydale? He'd be eaten alive.

Giles stepped over with his cup of tea, speaking in a low voice as not to be overheard by the staff, "But it is rather unusual that so much damage was done last night. Was it all done by the people you met last night?"

"Giles, to the best of my knowledge only two people were moving around last night. And the time it would take for them to accomplish that unhindered could be days at least, and that's if absolutely nothing else happened while they did it."

"You're right, but I thought it best to be sure, especially since most of the government leaders seemed to have met with rather untoward ends, the Mayor included."

"Well, then," the Watcher continued as he watched the others sit down with impressive amounts of food at the table, "What of the Angelus matter. I pressed Miss Calendar for details, but none were forthcoming."

"Just like I said to Buffy. We'll see if it's possible; if not, dust."

"You confuse me, Xander."

"How so?" he replied as he moved over and offered a plate to Cordelia, then to Rupert, Jenny having already joined the others in order to give the two time to talk.

"I would think you would be eager to eliminate Angel considering your expressed feelings toward him. Then, you do allow for a reprieve in the matter."

"I don't think anything can be done within a week or two Giles, and after that the vamp will start to go really crazy from lack of feeding."

"You're not treating him as a prisoner? What if his soul is returned?"

"Then the creep will find out it's not safe to remain in Sunnydale?"

"What of Buffy's feelings in the matter?"

"She wants a normal life; the vampire that doesn't do squat will leave town so she can have one. It's really that simple, Giles."

Buffy's voice broke in as the two turned and sat down, her Slayer hearing having picked up at least the end of the conversation.

"Xander, Angel's never done anything to you, why do you hate him so much?"

"Instead of helping at the Harvest, he did nothing. He stalked you in a creepy manner for the rest of the school year. Never helped unless he was right there with you. That means even leaving aside that if he'd been there and helped that first night, Jesse would still be alive. And since we now know his only source of information was Willy, we know his effort was next to nothing especially since all he did was give you bits and pieces instead of anything helpful. People died because he did nothing and claimed to want redemption. I won't even start on this school year. He's done nothing for anyone without being guilted into it."

"I think—"

"Stop Buff, just drop the subject. I don't want to fight. I said that to Willow last night. I'm not really wanting to talk about it…Now is there any way we can talk about something else?"


	5. Chapter 5

_The Xander The Watch and a New Sunnydale 5_ _Author: Tohonomike __Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays._

The rest to the day proved much less stressful once Angelus was no longer a topic. Yes, Xander knew Buffy was concerned, but he wasn't going to let any type of escalation begin. He showed them the 'public' areas of the house, the grounds, and what proved most interesting of all, his uncle's sixteen-foot square map of the Sunnydale area, aerial photos under thick solid plastic, which meant the scale was a detail-revealing one inch equaling 275 feet. On it, Kirby had highlighted all of the Harris, Winter, Lavelle and other associated properties, as well as color-coated lightly the zoning.

"Good Lord, Xander, that would go a long way toward planning patrols…" Giles remarked as he could really visualized the area that encompassed 100 square mile, though only a third of it was occupied.

"I plan on having another one set up; I have some basement space for privacy. I'm hoping to hire another bunch of aerial photos at a slightly better resolution, or see if there are any satellite photos available for sale. Since I'll be doing the real estate thing, it'll really help me to visual it better. And with all the stuff in the properties, I might either set up a Used Furniture and Appliance store, or a pawn shop or something. And then the whole need for a handyman or renter guy for all this…I might set it up as a service, with myself as the first customer. Jana, could you look into it please? If I let it go it won't get done anytime soon."

"Sure, Xander, anything else?"

"That's it. Oh, Giles…um, what was it…map…patrols…I was going to ask … oh. Hey, could you look up all the reports and articles of the places in Sunnydale that suffered damage last night, and how bad? I was going to ask Willow and Jana to look up information on the computers, then figure out the information all at once. That way, we don't miss anything."

"I see, anything in particular?"

"Other than my thinking of buying up cheap tax repossessions and such? Just wondering if any of us notice any other type of pattern. Like…vamps almost always live in a certain spot, or I don't know. Something like that."

"Hmm, that's a good idea Xander," Giles considered, "Um Willow, Jenny? Could you?"

The computer literates smiled and nodded in agreement, the others continued to look at the map, pointing out their houses and such.

Once the high school students left to do fun things, Giles sat sipping a cup of tea with Xander and Jenny, and quietly stared into space in order to think matters through. Sighing lightly, he turned to the other, sitting the cup down and giving them a serious but not unfriendly look.

"So, so you intend to tell me how you managed to do what you did last night?"

"No," Xander politely replied, "But it won't happen very often. That I will tell you."

"I see," the older man considered, a little surprised at the lack of information. Xander continued in a quiet manner.

"G-Man, Jana is bound by blood-debt not to speak of it without my permission, so don't blame her. This is MY thing. Every incident was a small blow against evil, and together we've turned a lot of the evil players on each other. That's just a bonus. I will tell you this, the Mayor FOUNDED Sunnydale and the city leaders that came to end were his human minions."

"There were allusions to possible removal of valuables?"

"Not too much, as it was from vamps; they might have seen scuff marks on floors, but that's all. We dealt in what shouldn't be left out there, and profit."

"You profited from your actions?"

"Ripper and the Council, both of whom I've read about from your own books, don't get to moralize me on transferring assets from demons, Giles. I don't plan to let anyone else know, though. None of their affair."

"How can we know you won't use this…power … for ill?"

"I would have already done it? I'm Xander Winter and money never really meant anything to me; I've done what I think is necessary to … look after those I care about and make sure they can lead good lives. That means you two and the girls."

"I see. I appreciate your candor. Now that Buffy has left, what is the true situation regarding Angel?"

"I have him locked up and unable to escape. If no spell is forthcoming, he's dust; otherwise, when he's released, he's dressed for humiliation."

Giles caught Jenny's slightly unhappy look, "That is the extent of it, I hope?"

Sighing, the boy looked at Jenny Calendar, "In spite of what I led Jana to believe, I didn't 'fix' the problem. That would have required seeing the bastard naked. But I do plan to chase the vamp out of town if the soul gets restored."

"You realize, Buffy won't like that much."

"Giles, I don't care. She goes on about wanting a normal life. I cleansed the big bads on the horizon so she can. I obliterated the unkillable Judge. She can go find a nice living human to date. Normal slaying patrols without the world ending next week."

"So if the curse is found and cast, Angel leaves…that's fair."

"Now," the young man nodded and stood up, "You are welcome to join us in the sub-basements, Giles. Jana and I procured a couple of truckloads of items; if the two of you can look them over for magic, or usefulness, I'll let you borrow them whenever you need.

A week went by, and tensions mounted between Buffy and Xander, but he didn't really stay around much, not willing to fight over something he wouldn't give on. Jana's family sent everything they could find, including some old Romany texts, but nothing even hinted at until late on the evening of the sixth.

"Xander, I think I have something here, but it is written in an older dialect of different branch of the family. But the few words I recognize…this could be the actual curse used."

"Well, do you think you can translate it to be sure by tomorrow?"

"I have classes tomorrow, Xander, and you know it. I'm not going to ask you to give in to Buffy, but I am asking you to let me have until midnight Saturday night so I don't have to miss work."

"Can't you do some kind of translation program?"

"That's what I need time for, the translation won't take long, but I don't want to use a spell I can't translate…I don't want to accidentally call in a worse demon if I'm wrong."

"Okay, Jana, you have your time."

At lunch Friday, Buffy managed to pin down Xander and Cordelia for a few minutes; it was clear what she hoped for.

"Jana asked that I wait until midnight tomorrow night, so she can check if her only lead is in fact a soul curse. She doesn't know for sure, Buff."

"What happens if it is, and it's before then?"

"Then if nothing bad happens to the caster, Dead Boy will be cursed and then booted out of Sunnydale."

"Why does he have to leave?"

"You know why, so just be happy that if the vampire is back, it isn't dust. If it stays, I will dust it. Either way, Buffy, without the vampire around, you can finally try to have a normal enough life." With that, he smiled wanly, offered his arm to Cordelia, and they left before they could start another round of disagreement.

Cordelia as they walked down the stairs leaned over a little to quietly ask a question.

"What if it is the curse but it's discovered after you dust Angel?"

"We say nothing until a particularly hard to find vampire shows up in Sunnydale. Then we curse it, give the soul last rites, and dust it."

"That seems harsh…"

"Better than more people being killed by vampires."

"Yeah, I suppose. Oh, Daddy finally found out about us starting to date. He was so starting to throw a fit until I told him you were now Alexander Winter and the house across the street appraised higher than ours."

"How'd he take it?"

"He said if I can teach you the basics of real table manners, You're expected to accept a dinner invitations prior to Valentine's Day."

"Money hungry, but considering Tony Harris' reputation, fair I guess. But once we meet, I expect him to complain about me, and not about my parents. Can you tell him that?"

"Yeah, it might be funny. Only you would think of that as a comeback."

"You find it sexy…"

"No, but I find it cute. That's a start."

"You keep being honest AND nice, Cor, and I might just start to worship you as the goddess you want to be."

Ohhhhhh, now that was sexy…Doofus."

"Goddess of the Harpies."

"Harris."

"Chase."

And at that point, around the corner from major public view, lips locked and the scene grayed out…


	6. Chapter 6

_The Xander The Watch and a New Sunnydale 6_ _Author: Tohonomike __Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays._

In a real sense, a clock was winding down for Angelus. It was Saturday afternoon, and Xander had finally gotten through most of the basic books on what he'd be having to decide as a property owner, as well as the basic info sheets on the properties he legally owned. As Jenny had concentrated on trying to find a way of restoring Angel, Xander had decided to wait for backup before jumping into the loot. What they'd seen while time stopped, meant that he was going to try being as cautious as possible. Those lawyers in Los Angeles and their demon clients would have given him bad dreams if not for the soldier nightmares that'd been revived since playing 'time commando.'

The hardest part of his new life was getting used to the fact that he now had a car, drivers' license, and different house. Twice he'd found himself starting to walk to his old house before turning around and doing it the new way. Cordelia said she found it endearing, so he wasn't too embarrassed.

It was three in the afternoon, and Giles had said he'd be dropping by to discuss some things with him; probably the way he'd avoided the girls for the last week. Jenny's research in hopes of bringing Angel back had won her forgiveness that she didn't need but felt guilty over nonetheless.

Sure enough, the bell rang a moment later, Giles being shown in to the map room. Looking around at the notes, books and highlight markers scattered across the real estate map, the man smiled at Xander's effort.

"You seem to be working rather hard, Xander…"

"Yeah, I figure I only get one chance like this, and since I had nothing going for me before, I better not blow it."

"I see your point, and I understand you've been putting in a stronger effort in your classes. Are you sure you're well?" the man joked mildly, then looked from Xander's work area to the young man himself, "The girls miss you. Oz sends his greetings."

"They send you?"

"No, though you know what Buffy is hoping for…"

"Yeah, I do Giles. If Jana manages it, and it is starting to look possible, then Deadboy will be back. But I meant it when I said he's not staying in Sunnydale."

"I agree, and I believe Buffy is also ready to agree if you were to extend the time should it be likely to happen soon." The Watcher held up his hand, "Before you dig in your heels, Xander, we all pretty much agree with you; it's just that if the spell were discovered at a minute before midnight and would take ten minutes to cast, would you really dust Angel over the difference?"

"No," Xander sighed, "But between us for now, I think Jenny'll have a translation soon."

"Really? Then why avoid the girls?"

"I don't know Giles…I'm just trying hard not to screw all of this up," the now young-seeming boy said as he gestured at the house around them, "And I'm trying to make myself presentable to Cordy's folks. I know if Buffy and I hang out now, she's going to bring up the Forbidden Subject and try to get me to give in. And she'll use that dumb-ass 'I'm the Slayer' line she tried at the beginning of the school year. With all this, I don't have the patience not to tell her to 'go someplace' or 'do something to herself.' Things are weird…"

"Yes they are, especially a mature Xander Harris, um, Winter. A sure sign that the Judge wasn't the real apocalypse," the older man joked as they sat down in a couple of chairs overlooking the map. "I'm going to say a few things, Xander, and please don't interrupt before I'm done, and try to listen to what I'm saying,

"Firstly, I agree with you in this Angelus matter, though I think you should be prepared to let up on your rather arbitrary time limit.

"Secondly, there are two halves of my duty as a Watcher to a Slayer: the primary one is to train and prepare her to fight the Darkness, the Vampyres. The equally important half of my duty, is to keep her balanced emotionally and mentally not just physically so that she survives and continues. Now, this means traditionally keeping her separate, but Buffy needs her friends and family. You proved that when you forced Angel to lead you to the Master's lair, where YOU brought Buffy back to life. I was on my way to help or die, but my Slayer rendered me unconscious. Her 'support network' is why she's alive.

"Now thirdly, since you were able to capture him so soon, it seems that Angelus killed a single person. Don't interrupt, please," he told the young man who'd been about to argue, "Dusting Angelus will eliminate the demon, rendering it dust. But if we send Angel away, then the soul by being present will continue to torment the demon within. From your point of you, would you wish to be listening to Angel's thoughts for almost a century? It would be a bloody hell, I'd think.

"Those are my thoughts I'm going to share with you, and ask you to consider. For many reasons, as well as the fact that I myself would miss you though not that poor excuse you call humor."

"Mrs. Summers needs to be told…this evening. Darla nearly killed her last year because she was invited into the house. If Joyce is told, I won't enforce a deadline, though I'm only going to keep the vamp around another week or so. You have to buy the vamp-food."

"You have me over a barrel you think…" the Watcher smiled, "But it would make things easier, I suppose. I don't agree with telling in general, but I've been trying to avoid it as long as possible."

"Afraid you'd have to relocate if she bolts with her daughter?"

"Quite, though whatever … happened a week ago makes things a little easier right now, as Sunnydale actually seems to be quiet whereas the other large cities' populations are engaged in something of a power struggle. Have you kept abreast of the news?"

"You mean those aren't really riots in LA?"

"They are, but the demons are both causing some of them while they burn out their rivals for taking over from the fallen leaders."

"Oh boy…I was hoping it was coincidence…"

"I'm afraid not, though so far it seems the demons are too busy concentrating on each to actually prey on the rioters as of yet."

"So why is Sunnydale quiet?"

"Apparently 'somebody' managed to neutralize all of the potential rivals, and no demons from LA have realized it yet."

"So by telling Buffy's mom now, you might be able to keep them in Sunnydale?"

"Yes, and according to my research, most of Buffy's mother's family are in the Chicago area, and you've seen how ugly things are getting there. Admittedly it is all dying down…"

"So you'll do it? Tell Mrs. Summers, and I'll let up a bit on ripping Angel back from the afterlife?"

"Indeed."

"And does Buffy know?"

"I'm not quite as easily manipulated as you children believe; I told her that would probably be your blackmail price, and that I was going to do it."

"What did she say?"

"Something about how it might be better for Angel to stay here and deal with her mother why Buffy skipped town. Safer for her I believe."

The two males smiled, and Xander nodded.

"We'll show her Angelus as the 'show and tell' vampire. Between the humiliation to Angelus when they see how he's dressed, and his age before turning, Buffy will be dating human boys soon enough."

"No longer interested in her yourself?"

"Buffy's mom? Not really…" the boy smirked as the Watcher rolled his eyes, "But no, don't get me wrong, the Buffster's way hot, but I'm really trying to make things work with Cordelia now that she's admitted to being seen with me. Though I think her and Jana broke into my old house; there aren't any of my old clothes there anymore."

"Well, then some good has come from it all," the man smiled back, "And I'm glad you have the maturity to know when you have a good thing. I, I actually talked to Cordelia when no one else was around earlier today; she's very sharp when she wants to be. It's a shame she doesn't seem to directly apply herself. I think she could make something of herself."

Xander considered that for a moment, "You know, Giles, none of us really talk to you do we? Do me a favor…and talk to me for real every week or so. I'm sure not used to this, but between dealing with your girlfriend on all this business stuff, reading these books and stuff…I like it. I haven't really had anyone to talk to since Jesse died, and we hardly ever talked about serious stuff when Willow was around; she'd either analyze us, or try to correct us. But she was our Willow. Our little sis."

"That's how you see her?"

"Yeah, 'cause that's the relationship I've had forever, Giles; no way to risk that by trying anything different. I know she had the crush thing, but hopefully now that she has a boyfriend in a band, she'll come out of her shell a little more and start thinking of me as a brother."

"You really should tell her."

"I know…but I probably won't…"

"Hmm, well then. That's enough of the personal stuff for now; I'm not entirely comfortable with it. Not adverse to it, you understand, just not comfortable."

"That's cool, Giles. So when's Buffy and her mom coming over?"

"Around six o'clock, I checked with Jenny and had her 'pencil us in' for the rest of the evening. Also, the others will be there as well. I want her mother to see the support Buffy has here, and not just the danger."

"Wow, okay…should I have the guys here put out a table of fruit, bread, cheese and Twinkies? Food might make everybody a little more comfortable."

"That would be splendid, and perhaps teas and coffee?"

"Gotcha. Let's go upstairs and I'll get things started. You need me to help set up anything like a slide projector or a whiteboard and markers?"

"If you have them, wonderful. Otherwise I'll just bring a few books a-and the like from the car?"

"Okay, I'll walk with you. I really haven't gotten too much done today, anyway. After we bring your stuff in, we'll check and see how the spell research is coming along."


	7. Chapter 7

_The Xander, The Watch, and a New Sunnydale 7 (of 10)_ _Author: Tohonomike __Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays._

The first hour of comfortably socializing and talking about Xander's good fortune had eventually segued toward what a tight-knit group of friends they'd all become. They'd toured the place and ended up just outside of the room in which Angelus was kept. AS a way to move things along, Xander had laughed, and began to reminisce as the easiest way to introduce the Slayer's mother to 'reality.'

"Yeah, I'll never forget that first night when she saved Willow from that vampire, Darla. Man, finding out the scary stuff was real really blew my mind."

Joyce looked at the young man oddly, waiting for a punch line that didn't come.

"Luckily, we had the G-Man fresh from England to explain how to avoid becoming lunch, though he almost fainted when Willow and I told him we were going to help Buffy any way we could."

"W-well, I couldn't really do anything else, could I?" Giles admitted, realizing that while putting on a certain lightness, they should cover as much as possible. "My family had devoted itself to helping the girls Called to be Slayers, for centuries, now. A-and unlike many others, I've come to believe that having a support group is a good thing for anyone, but especially one with a destiny, Xander."

Xander smiled as he finished a sip of coffee, "You've been a Slayer for what now, Buff? Two years?"

"Just over, but, um, mom doesn't really know its all real, guys."

"Oh, that would explain a lot," Giles nodded, then turned to Joyce Summers, "I'm sorry, I guess when I stressed to Buffy how important secrecy was to protect people, I'd not made it clear I meant generally, and not specifically. Now Ms. Summers, please keep an open mind—"

"Mr. Giles, I'm beginning to wonder what this is really all about…"

"Mrs. Summers," Xander interrupted, "Before anything else is said, please follow me into the next room. Everyone else might as well come along, too. Before you declare us all crazy, or weirdoes, I have proof that everything we're going to tell you is true."

He keyed and combination-coded a slightly recessed door which slid to the side and remained open. The young man stepped through and after Giles followed, Joyce allowed her curiosity to move her with them. She watched Xander open a safe on the far side of the room; inside there seemed a casket underneath a large weight.

"What's in there, Xander?" Joyce asked, almost afraid to as it was a casket.

"One of the nastiest vampires that's ever been recorded; you need proof, I'll let you see it. I have holy water, mirrors, a few pints of blood, dynamite with a remote…you'll be perfectly safe."

"You strapped dynamite to Angel?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Buffy, blowing up vampires works really well for those of us not Chosen," the young man smiled, "and no one here is going to be hurt by the vampire."

Giles intervened before an argument could break out, "How do you intend to proceed, Xander?"

"Well, I'm going to crank the weight off using the, um, hand crank. It will lift the weight up so the lid of the coffin can be opened. We're just going to open the part covering the top part of him."

"Is he chained up inside?"

"You bet, real heavy ones, extra locks. And the sides are covered in a cloth with bunches of little crosses to keep Angie from moving around?"

"You have a girl in there?"

"It's short for Angel, Mrs. Summers."

"Buffy, isn't that the name of that history tutor you had last year?"

"Um, yeah…"

Xander butted in as Giles was ready to open the partial-lid, "Okay, let's save that fight 'til later. Right now I have a vampire to humiliate and torture."

Buffy looked horrified at that, and looked at her best male friend, "Torture? Why would you torture—"

She quieted when he held up holy water and stared at her. Xander turned to Joyce.

"Mrs. Summers, this is holy water, just water blessed by a priest," he told the woman and allowed a few drops to land on his hand, then Buffy's, then Joyce's. "See? No harm, no foul. But dribble this onto a vampire, and it acts like acid, hurts 'em a bunch. If I drop it on the vampire's face, it will definitely look like the monster it is."

"Xander—"

"Buff, until there's a soul in the corpse, it's a monster. Giles, open the top." The Watcher did as bade, and looked in at the snarling but still human-looking Angelus. Rupert fell back on his arse, laughing at what was within. Buffy and the others, including Joyce, looked inside and saw from the chest up. Xander really had cross-dressed the vampire and shaved the beast's head except for a hot-pink Mohawk. Not a pretty sight; Buffy was horrified, and the others disgusted at the thing within the box. Jenny smirked and shook her head.

Joyce turned to Xander, "Do you have more evidence than a pervert in a coffin, Alexander?"

Xander splashed some of the holy water onto Angelus' face, which smoked and burned; the vampire's true face emerged in front of Joyce's eyes, and the very foul language amidst the screams did nothing to endear Joyce Summers to the disturbed person or thing within.

"Joyce, I have a mirror, but do you have one in you purse? If so, let me hold it and you can tell." A moment later, "See, no reflection."

He sipped the holy water, than dribbled more on the vamp, causing a repeat reaction."

Joyce began to believe, and didn't like it, 'So why don't you put a wooden stake in this vampire's heart, Xander?"

"Because this one was cursed by gypsies after murdering a bunch of them. The curse was to force the soul back into the body. You see, when one's body is turned into the vampire, the soul leaves, and this here's nothin' more than a demon. But since Angel's only friend was Buffy, she feels guilty and wants to give Angel, the soul, a second chance."

Angelus began swearing and cursing at hearing this, so Xander dumped the rest of the water on him just before Giles slammed the box shut. Joyce considered this for a minute.

"If this is a demon, and I'm not ready to believe you yet, why would you want to bring the soul back?"

Xander turned to the blonde slayer, "I don't, really…Buffy?"

"Me? Oh, um, because he hasn't earned redemption yet for everything he did. So he needs to be here to do redemption stuff."

Joyce frowned, "So this Angel was a bad person when he was alive?"

"He was a vampire mom…"

"But I thought that was a demon…or did he want to become a vampire so that's why he's going to go to hell if you don't bring him back?"

Xander interjected himself, "Um Joyce, can I ask you a question of a kitchen nature?"

"Sure, Xander," the woman replied at the seeming nonsequitor.

"Since moving to Sunnydale, have you owned a barbecue fork?"

"I think I bought one a couple of months ago, why?"

"That young blonde girl named Darla was a vampire, and she attacked you; how could you fall on a barbecue fork that could pierce you at that angle and that's the only injury you had? Ever notice that people in this town open the door and wave you in, but never really make a habit of inviting you in? Just a few more thoughts."

The boy sighed, "Giles? Could you answer the tricky questions while I put the weight back down on Dead Boy?"

"Um, certainly, but perhaps back upstairs and we'll sit down and have some tea…"

Joyce nodded, "That might be best."

An hour later, after the "World is older" speech, and a fairly good overview of events since Buffy came to Sunnydale, Joyce believed…but agreed with Giles and Xander that if Angel were brought back, the vampire would NOT remain in Sunnydale. She didn't like the unfairness of the Slayer Calling, to which everyone agreed, but was happy to know there were people helping her daughter be Slayer and a normal teen at the same time.

"You can't stop being a Slayer?"

"No mom, it's been thousands of years, and no one is sure about any of it except that when one of us dies, then another is Called, and that we fight and dust the vampires and other icky things."

"I don't like the fact that you say you died, Buffy, but doesn't that mean it's the turn of this Kendra? Mr. Giles?"

"While one might expect that, Buffy is still a Slayer even though Kendra was Called. The fact that Buffy still had the abilities shows that. And that means that as demonic things tend to pick up on that, she'd always have to worry about being surprised. With us, she doesn't have to be a, a fugitive from herself, o-or do this on her own."

Jenny called out from her laptop in the adjacent room, "I think I have it!"

"Try antibiotics," Xander deadpanned in the silence. "Do you mean the curse?"

"Yes, and I have everything except an Orb of Thesula…"

"Oh, I'm using one as a fancy paperweight on my desk at the library," Giles remarked, then rolled his eyes when Xander handed him a twenty-dollar bill, but pocketed it. "If someone wants to retrieve it from the library, we should probably get this over with."

"Good idea, Giles," Xander agreed, "And I have forty dollars, one last Hawaiian shirt with matching shorts, and some old flip-flops…enough to send Angel to LA tonight by bus in style."

"Good idea, but we should keep him overnight and tomorrow to make sure you haven't turned him feral or something in that box downstairs."

"Tomorrow evening works for me."

Buffy looked at both of them, but knew with her mother in the room, she stood no chance.


	8. Chapter 8

_The Xander, The Watch and a New Sunnydale 8 (of 10)_ _Author: Tohonomike __Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays._

The spell went off without a hitch, though the spell casters were exhausted when it was over. Joyce had insisted on being present, and making sure Buffy left without consorting with the weirdo in the coffin. No matter what Buffy said, Joyce didn't care—she'd even called them square when Buffy threw out the whole being committed to an insane asylum thing. Joyce said that the years of lying without proof of vampires, lying about the 'history tutor' and more had balanced that. And no, having seen the demon face…there's nothing romantic about a centuries' old dead man lurking about a young girl.

Buffy left with a lot of 'but moms' as they headed out, and called out that she'd be back the next night to say 'bye' to Angel. Willow looked a little confused, and with a yawn turned to Xander.

"Are you really going to make Angel leave town? Do we even know if he killed anybody went he went 'grrrrrr' and all?"

"Yeah, and he probably did…he IS a vampire."

"But what if he came here first?"

"Oh, just to kill you, Will?"

"Ye—oh. That's not good."

Xander nodded and sighed, and waved everybody, tired as they were, back to their seats. "Guys, I never liked the guy. And now that he's back, I don't know if humiliation is enough. And besides, Buffy should date humans, not corpses."

"That really bothers you more than anything else, doesn't it?" Giles asked. "N-not that I disagree, but why?"

"It's…nasty. It's not sexy. And the demon and vampire are the same thing. When she touches it…she touches a demon. Just because there's a soul in there sometimes, doesn't make it right."

Willow sighed, "But she loves him…"

"She loves the doomed romance, Willow. She's so caught up in the 'I can't have a normal life' thing that she's doing the opposite."

Cordelia frowned slightly in concentration, "When did you become Mr. Psychiatrist?"

"Soldier-Guy memories. He was a dad with three teenaged girls," Xander said as if remembering them himself, "He didn't understand 'em, but he DID eventually survive 'em. And that was back in late seventies I'll have you know."

"You're kidding right? You remember that?"

"When I'm really tired, like now or a week ago? Yeah, they kinda sneak back, Cor. Don't worry, still only me. Though I sometimes sneak in and properly sharpen the knives and swords in the library when Giles and Buffy let it go like they have."

Giles looked embarrassed for a moment, then rallied with a smirk, "With a fairy sword sharpener, lad, why should I bother?"

Xander chuckled at the minor and almost-teenaged slur on his heterosexuality, "Any other questions while my resistance is down?"

Jenny nodded, "Are you going to let Angel out before tomorrow night?"

"I was thinking about kicking him out the door ten minutes before dawn, dressed like he is…but if you have a better idea?"

"Xander! Not nice, see resolve face…no dusting Angel when he isn't 'grrrr.'"

Oz smiled at his almost-girlfriend, as the two adults and Cordelia yawned from fatigue. Xander looked around. No one said anything.

"Hey, I just never liked the vampire."

"Shouldn't we get to put it to a vote? It's not like we elected you group leader, 'cause, you know, that's Giles." The Watcher smiled indulgently at the redhead, and Xander nodded.

"Okay, let me ask this…since we know that Angel-Buffy leads to bad stuff, who thinks we really NEED Angel in Sunnydale?"

Xander looked around, and Willow put her hand up. She looked at Oz, who shrugged.

"Normally I'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt, but I don't know anything."

Willow turned to Xander, "That should count for half…and Buffy counts as one, and Angel counts as one."

"Um, this isn't old-time Chicago, so only the living get votes, and Joyce would vote no without a doubt. I vote no. Cordelia? Jana? Giles?"

Cordelia spoke up, "I'm split between 'no' and don't care."

"That's a tie so far…Jana?"

"Since my duty is transferred to you…I'm torn like Cordelia, but between 'he could be useful if supervised' and 'dust.'"

Giles nodded at his sorta-girlfriend, "I find myself wanting to keep him away from Buffy, but he has been able to get us resources and information before. I'm unsure."

"So…" Xander considered, looking at everyone then finally addressing Giles, "If we can keep Buffy away from him, then for different reasons all of you wouldn't mind having the vamp around. How would we do that?"

Everyone stared back at him.

"I have to decide? What happened to Giles is the boss?"

"Th-that's only for the popular things," the Watcher deadpanned, then allowed a small smile after a moment.

"Ow, now I know this is an apocalypse-aftershock. Even Giles is funnier than me these days." Xander shook his head, "Any suggestions if Dead Boy stays? Can't we just call him on a cell phone and we pick him up in LA for end-of-the-world stuff?"

Jenny smiled at the young man, "If you hadn't packaged up his stuff and transferred title of his car to yourself, you wouldn't have to pick him up."

"You what!" Willow gasped, "You took a guy's car? And his stuff?"

Giles smirked slightly, then in all serious nodded tiredly, "Xander? The only way to keep them apart, or at least chaperoned, is if you intend to provide a place on the grounds in which Angel would reside, then forbid access to it by Buffy. She wouldn't like it, but it would solve most concerns. Then of course, we'd have to arrange patrols in such a way that the two of them do not see each other except in emergencies."

"A lot of work, Giles…" he responded, "And would the rest of you be honest and 'squeal' on her if she broke the rules?"

Oz shrugged slightly and the others except Willow nodded. After a moment, she sighed and nodded also so Giles continued.

"Yes, but you would have an ally in Mrs. Summers, I believe. So if the only constraints are those involving Angel, then perhaps once time has passed, he will leave of his own volition. Or, if he and Buffy truly give up their ill-advised relationship, we might allow him a little freer rein."

"Hmm…Jana, would your family be assigning someone else now that you'll be advising me? If they did, and the person's a guy, but not an a-hole, he could be Angel's Watcher. That way, even though we'd support the two of them, we'd have somebody whose job is to deal with Dead Boy."

Jenny nodded, glancing uncertainly, "I'll check and see, but since I've seen a couple of my cousins around town…it's probably already happened."

"Will you talk to your uncle?"

"Probably, why?"

"Tell him that by helping the soul that let the vamp into world do good deeds, the demon inside will really hate it. Why just punish the soul? Punish the demon with doing the good deeds, only drinking animal blood, wearing happy colors when not patrolling, and stuff like that… the demon will really suffer. And since the soul has to feel the demon inside all time any way, it's paying the price for letting Angelus happen."

Cordelia looked at Jenny, whom Xander kept calling Jana, "So I think I missed or forgot something…Ms. Calendar was Angel's old Watcher, but just kept notes on if he's suffering? That's lame. Xander's right, if the demon's your target, why let it bother one soul when you guys get to watch Angel tick off his demon every time he buys a kid an ice cream cone or me a new handbag or pair of shoes."

Xander smiled at his sorta-girlfriend, "I'm amazed at how you managed to benefit your self in all of that."

"Hey, if they actually write it down, why would I say no?" she beamed back at the approvingly-chiding tone in his voice. Jenny nodded.

"Okay, I get it. Demon bad, make Angel punish it."

The group nodded, and Xander added, "And no Angel-Buffy stuff."

They nodded again, so he continued, "Jana, make the call. I know it's late, but tell them… it's a matter of better vengeance."

"You going to let them use one of the guesthouses?"

"The bigger one has a basement that's been fixed up into another apartment; your cousin or whoever lives up top, and Angel in the bottom. No one pays rent or anything; I'll cover that part of it. If Angel behaves himself for a year, I'll give him his car back."

Everybody nodded, and as Jenny headed to make the call, the gathering broke up for the time being. Though the Polaroid pictures Xander had of Angel in his current plight made him smile; at least he had those.


	9. Chapter 9

_The Xander, The Watch and a New Sunnydale 9 (Finis)_ _Author: Tohonomike _ _Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...it will start off with the Joss/ME characters but any other characters aren't mine either and any real-life folks are clearly not mine. NO money is involved. None are mine. Inspired by The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything. A 1980 flick starring Robert Hays._

The group gathered at Xander's place the next evening, just after the sun went down, to find a whole bunch of swarthy types that looked like they were probably relatives of Ms. Calendar. The group were apparently reinforcing the guest building, and moving in a few pieces of furniture.

Willow turned to Xander as they watched Joyce pull up in the driveway with Buffy.

"So…how many are moving in?"

"Two couples, and they're making sure that in an emergency Dead Boy can't hurt any one."

"But he has his soul back…"

"Does that mean it's physically impossible for someone to go crazy from remorse and murder lots of people? I think a bunch of death-row inmates didn't get the memo, Wills."

"You know what I mean…"

"Yeah, and until there's real proof that Dead Boy is back to…Dead Boy normal at least, no one needs to take a chance."

Joyce frowned slightly as she came up, expressing disappointment, "Xander, I thought you were going to make sure … that … person would leave town."

"Well we just can't let a wounded animal back into the wild, Ma'am. If the soul goes crazy, how do we know he won't do human-crazy killing things. This way, he has two couples taking shifts to keep him away from Buffy. And they'll help him act like a real man."

"So, um, is the vampire still in the clothes from yesterday?" the woman asked uncomfortably.

"No, after taking plenty of pictures, I gave him some old sweats and all of my old Hawaiian shirts."

Even Buffy smiled wanly and they heard Cordelia walk up the drive, "And if that isn't cruel enough punishment, Xander's threatened to find matching pants and boxer shorts online."

Joyce smiled a little, twenty-four hours a day watch was better than ust running the weirdo out of town.

"For now, Xander, but I reserve the right to bring this up to a vote in the future."

"You won't hear me complaining when it's time to give Dead Boy the boot, Mrs. Summers."

"They pressured you, didn't they?"

"It hadn't reached that far. They merely pointed out that as I made the mistake of telling them about the vampire, hat it should be voted on. There were many votes for preventing Buffy and Angel from ever getting together again, and this was seen as the way to make sure it was 'Angel' and not a form of 'Angelus' we'd be releasing."

"And if they are found alone together without a good explanation?"

"All he is…is dust in the wind…"

"Okay, then."

Buffy looked very uncomfortable with her mother's attitude, but being Buffy, she could only keep quiet so long.

"Mom, if he were human would it make a difference?"

"He'd be doing jail time for what he did, Buffy. He's too old for you. End of story. But the fact that he's following a young girl around after being around longer than this country is even more disturbing."

Buffy sighed and looked around, hoping to see Angel at least one more time…make sure he was going to be okay. But if it came down to Angel or Mom…Mom would win.

It wasn't quite a circus atmosphere, but close, as the 'vamp of the hour' was let out of the secured room downstairs to interact with everybody. While embarrassed and still a little ashamed of his previous appearance, Angel was still able to give Buffy a wan smile as he stepped into the midst of the gathered group. Xander had explained things to him and the Romany earlier, that he wanted Angel to start acting like a human to torture the demon within, but that his relationship with Buffy was over. Xander interrupted and told him that he himself was dating Cordelia Chase, and had no interest in Buffy any more. Angel had noted that the boy seemed to be telling the truth, and that made it a LOT easier to swallow.

"Am I being executed?" he asked half-seriously as the others stared at him.

"No, Liam Angel, you are not," Stefan Kalderash told him as he and the other 'roommates' stepped forward. "It's just that everyone here is a party to the agreement as to your continued existence in this world. You, the soul, will sacrifice and sever all ties to Slayer Summers, and devote yourself to the hunting of demons, and the torture of the one that took your body. You will also be expected to act as the human you allege to be inside."

One of the women, a Sofia Lovari, stepped forward and held up a necklace.

"Please bow down, I'm not that tall," she admonished, "This will keep the soul anchored and sealed on you. It is not enough to cancel the curse breaking condition we know, but no other magic, or simple lightening of the curse will happen. It also, um, prevents your physical capability for breaking the curse, for the next number of times equal to the number of links."

Angel bowed enough, then felt a shock when she uttered a Power Word of some type.

"There," Stefan Kalderash nodded, "NOW, you are somewhat trustworthy. While Sofia has told you the part of the necklace's magic important to you, the part that is important to us, is that the links of the necklace were each created with an old magic, and you will now experience ten times the pain you inflict on a human, and will not be able to kill one without your own decapitation occurring."

Angel looked pale at the thought, Xander speaking up.

"Just don't go around hurting humans and you'll be fine. It's not like you've been doing much of that the last few decades, right?"

Angel nodded slowly in agreement, but he did wonder, "Will it work if Angelus comes back again?"

"Yeah, so there's that."

"Good. Will this come off easily?"

"It won't come off as long as you're a vampire."

"Okay."

Buffy frowned, "Okay? It sounds like slavery, Angel."

"No, Buffy," he sighed with a sad smile, trying to fight the exhaustion he'd felt for a hundred years, "It means I might be able to let go of my fear that I'll hurt someone. It's not bad. It just takes getting used to."

"But what about us?" she said, those around her trying not to roll the eyes or grimace—none too successfully. A couple of throats clearing kept her from getting closer than arm's length from him.

"There can't be an 'us' anymore, Buffy. We've both known it couldn't work out. It hurts. If I'd been thinking, maybe I'd've tried finding out more about the curse. Maybe some one should have said something about it. I have a lot I have to atone for—"

Xander cleared his throat, and interrupted, "You DON'T have a LOT to atone for, Angel. Other than Liam letting himself get turned, and Angel pursuing a young girl, the rest was done by a demon. So you have some stuff to make up for, so unless someday the heavens open up and turn you human again? Your 'sentence' will be a hundred and fifty years of Angelus-torture. At that point, you're free to go and even the Kalderash have agreed to require only the wearing of the necklace as justice served."

Buffy looked overwhelmed, "Xander, a hundred and fifty years is like forever!"

"Buffy, that's how long Angelus was roaming around killing folks. Angel isn't being punished for the century he just sat around and did nothing. And there are probably the ghosts of a lot of fathers and husbands out there that are resting easy knowing that Liam can't run around with the ladies any more."

"What's that got to do with anything and why are you calling Angel Liam?"

Xander waved an upturned palm to Angel to field that question.

"My human name was Liam, Buffy. And I was pretty much a waste. While I don't like all of this, the fact that things are settled, a hundred and fifty years of being a better man and hunting demons to make my demon unhappy? It's starting to sound pretty good. Human justice by those who understand the situation. I can accept that."

The vampire sighed, and removed a claddagh ring from his hand, and uncertain, she did likewise, "In the tradition of my people, these rings, they signify betrothal."

He took the one from her hand, and handed them to the woman he now knew as Jana of the Kalderash, "And if we have to give up, sacrifice, move on, I guess they should be given to the family of the potential slayer that Angelus killed, the Kalderash. Angel, who was Liam, came back and knew you because of them, so they deserve them."

He looked at the woman they'd known as Jenny Calendar, then turned back to Buffy.

"While I hope to see you again, it will only be as a friend, Buffy. Please find someone you can walk in the sun and have children with someday…Good bye."

And Angel headed out of the room to take a look at his new home. Buffy cried and sighed a little, but put on a brave front. Joyce stepped close and handed her a coffee.

"It'll hurt for a while, but you'll be fine, Buffy." The girl nodded silently at her mother and sipped at the coffee as others began to move about and give them some room.

Giles paced his hand behind Xander's shoulder blade as they walked into the other room.

"So Xander, what are your plans now?"

"Learn the business stuff, be a good boyfriend to Cordelia, train to be a demon hunter and Watcher type."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Doesn't mean I'm going to try matching Buffy, or even get to your levels, G-Man, but since I have all this money and stuff, I'm going to try being the best me I can be. Back up guy to as many of you as I can."

"Well, with your newfound wealth, and your contacts, I'd say it's only a matter of time before you attain your goals."

"Time is the one ally I don't think I'll have a problem with, Giles. For some reason I think I got that one covered."

Jana Kalderash smiled at the boy's remark as she followed the two men, wondering about the future, and just how close to the truth Xander danced about other things…

Author's Note: Thanks for reading this little series. I've decided to end it here on a light enough note. I hope you've enjoyed reading it. I hope you don't mind that Xander's happy to be Number One Back Up Guy instead of Uber Xander, but I felr the character after one LONG week could see his current limitations and needs better than everyone.


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